I am looking for the longest unpaved (turf, dirt, gravel, etc) runway
in the continental US that is publicly owned and operated. A
reference check to Airnav.com or FAA database would be appreciated.

Clarification of Question by
drdaveb-ga
on
08 Mar 2005 02:26 PST

Appreciate the thoroughness of your answer but there appears to be
something wrong, maaybe with the database. I am very familiar with
many of the airports on your list and know for a fact that there are
many with no unpaved runway 5009'. For example, Ft Lauderdale
Executive Airport (ID = FXE), there is no unpaved runway. You have
the correct parameters for the runway surface (GRAVEL, TURF, DIRT,
etc.) and although some asphalt pavement may be so old to appear to be
gravel, I don't think the FAA would list it as such :).
This is also curious since I found a refence to only one unpaved
runway greater than 3,047m (9996')
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/tra_air_wit_unp_run_ove_304_m
Can you crosscheck with another source?
Thanks
Dr. Dave

Drdaveb --
This question may fall into the category of "unanswerable" because
being unpaved means that grass, sand or water is used -- and many will
argue over runway length.
My example: there is only one beach runway in the U.S. -- Copalis
State (S116) -- on the Washington Coast at the mouth of the Copalis
River:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/aviation/airports/Copalis.htm
The airport has a windsock, but since the ocean washes across it twice
each day, there's no "beginning" or "end" to the runway, which is on
hard-packed Pacific Coast sand. I've been there and the runway's
really at least 5500'.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA

I don't think the question is unanswerable, all public landing areas
will have an FAA published runway length paved or not. Water landing
areas do not apply and the fact the there is areference to only one
runway in the US with a length over 3,047m (9996'), I'd like to know
which one it is.

I believe the source for your fact is the CIA World Factbook [
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ ]. This reference
documents that there is one non-paved runway in the United States with
a length greater than 3047 meters.
The current edition of the World Factbook provides figures for the
number of airports having unpaved runways in the United States at [
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html ] as:
total: 9,729
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
1,524 to 2,437 m: 160
914 to 1,523 m: 1,718
under 914 m: 7,843 (2004 est.)
It defines unpaved as:
"This entry gives the total number of airports with unpaved runways
(grass, dirt, sand, or gravel surfaces) by length. For airports with
more than one runway, only the longest runway is included according to
the following five groups - (1) over 3,047 m, (2) 2,438 to 3,047 m,
(3) 1,524 to 2,437 m, (4) 914 to 1,523 m, and (5) under 914 m. Only
airports with usable runways are included in this listing. Not all
airports have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic
control"
The Factbook cites the sources for its information at [
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/docs/contributor_copyright.html
]
as follows:
"Information is provided by Antarctic Information Program (National
Science Foundation), Bureau of the Census (Department of Commerce),
Bureau of Labor Statistics (Department of Labor), Central Intelligence
Agency, Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, Defense
Intelligence Agency (Department of Defense), Department of State, Fish
and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior), Maritime
Administration (Department of Transportation), National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (Department of Defense), Naval
Facilities Engineering Command (Department of Defense), Office of
Insular Affairs (Department of the Interior), Office of Naval
Intelligence (Department of Defense), US Board on Geographic Names
(Department of the Interior), US Transportation Command (Department of
Defense), and other public and private sources."
The World Factbook, unfortunately in your case, does not provide the
raw underlying data that its figures have been compiled from,
specifically the single airport in the United States with an unpaved
runway exceeding 3047m.
Note also that the World Factbook does not specifically describe the
airports it is summarizing as public airports, so I'd suspect that its
figures includes military air bases and other non-public airfields.
==============================================================
After additional searching I found several references to DAFIF, the
Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File, a product of the
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (DOD). This file provides
very current and highly detailed information for aeronautical
facilities, navigation, and related information for 232 different
countries. The information in this file appears much more thorough
than the information I reviewed before my last comment. I'd even
speculate that the data in this file is in fact the source for many of
the publicly available airport reference sites on the Internet,
including [ http://airnav.com ].
The DAFIF file (database) is in the public domain and available for
download from [ https://www2.nima.mil/products/digitalaero/index.cfm
]. I obtained the file that is valid for 17 March 2005 to 13 April
2005. In particular, I downloaded Version 0503, Ed. 8 [
ftp://164.214.2.112/dafif/dafif_0503_ed8/dafift.zip ] for analysis.
==============================================================
There are 9,969 airports listed in the DAFIF database with 4,306 in
the United States. Among the entries in the United States are
airports such as ANDREWS AFB, DAVIS MONTHAN AFB and HILL AFB, so it
would seem the list includes public and non-public airports. Even so,
this is far short of the number cited in the World Factbook (9,729).
According to the DAFIF database I consulted, the top three unpaved
runways by length are:
YUCCA AIRSTRIP (NV11) 9000 feet 2743 meters
WILLIS (7MN8) 9413 feet 2869 meters
BICYCLE LAKE AAF (KBYS) 9500 feet 2895 meters
The surface type listed for these runways is "GRADED OR ROLLED EARTH,
GRASS ON GRADED EARTH."

Salt flats in Utah?
The space shuttle has landed there, and it is technically publicly
owned and operated since it's a public area.

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